Atriplex canescens var. laciniata

Caleb saltbush

Family: Chenopodiaceae · Type: shrub · Native

Caleb saltbush is a California native shrub found in western Transverse Ranges and desert regions excluding desert mountains in saline desert flats and alluvial fans at elevations below 1,500 meters. Flowering from March to October, this plant produces pale green to whitish flowers with distinctive wing-like bracts. Growing 1 to 2 meters tall with spreading, grayish branches, it forms a rounded and open shrub structure. Its leaves are oblanceolate, 10 to 25 millimeters long, with tapered bases and obtuse tips, giving the plant a soft, silvery-green appearance. The fruit bracts are notable for their deeply sharp-toothed wings, measuring 6 to 12 millimeters across.

Habitat: Saline desert flats, alluvial fans

Bloom period: Mar-Oct

Elevation: < 1500 m

Bioregions: WTR, D (exc DMtns)

California counties: Riverside, San Bernardino, Kern, Imperial, Inyo, San Luis Obispo, San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange, Santa Barbara, Ventura

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.